It's a Dangerous Game
by clairenbearen
Summary: The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.
1. Chapter 1

The lights flipped on. Mark waited for his eyes to adjust before looking around the room. The room had dull gray walls that met the ceiling four feet above his head. A metal table stood in the center of the room. People were chained around the perimeter of the walls. _This is a pretty large prison cell_ , Mark thought. He counted twelve members of the Young Tribulation Force, one of which included Judd. Upon seeing Judd, Mark's eyes widened and he searched for Vicki before finding that she was not there.

A tall, lean, prominent young man sauntered to the middle of the room. His shoe heels clacked against the floor. His head was held high, his shoulders were squared, and he was carrying four knives in both hands.

"Who are y–" Shelly began to ask, but the man turned on one heel, threw a knife, and killed the young girl. Nicolae Carpathia was extremely dangerous.

Nicolae finished his walk to the center of the room where a table stood. He set down two of the blades and kept one in his hand to toy with. He drew a shape into the table and looked around at the kids.

Mark had never put intelligence past Nicolae Carpathia, but he seemed to know them all too well. Of the five girls, only one of them had shackles on, and only her legs were bound. Charlie was the only male of the seven to not be chained. Judd and Mark were the most restrained. Both men had shackles wrapped around their chest, a chain attached to their handcuffs hooked to the wall, and leg irons on both feet, as well as a gag tied tightly to their mouths. Nicolae looked at the two men and smiled slightly.

Nicolae blew on the tip of the blade and brushed his thumb across it. "I need you to understand something before I kill you," he said in his Romanian accent. He began walking around the perimeter of the room again, pausing briefly to smile greedily at Darrion before continuing on his way. "I am not going to give you all quick deaths. In fact, the only one who gets a quick death," he pointed his knife at Shelly, "is Shelly Brown."

Mark met Judd's eyes as both of them realized the situation they were in.

Nicolae's steps were agonizingly slow and deliberate. "I know who you all are. I know quite a bit about all of you." Nicolae stopped in front of Mark, looking him up and down. "Mark Eisman. You were a track star at your old high school, always ready to blow your temper. Originally, you were planning on attending Princeton University to study liberal arts and history, but then your life fell apart. You met – who is it? Victoria Byrne?" Nicolae grinned, mocking Mark, "– and fell in love with her."

Judd's eyes widened in shock and he gaped at Mark with a look of betrayal.

"But you knew that someone else was in love with her, and you felt that you didn't have a chance with this Vicki. She's very beautiful, I must admit."

Both Judd and Mark agreed with Nicolae Carpathia for the first time in their lives, much to their dismay.

Nicolae smiled and walked around the table to Judd. "The only thing I don't know," he stopped to touch Natalie's face. Mark breathed shallowly, praying to God to let the antichrist continue on his merry without touching another one of the girls. Nicolae let his hand fall and moved back towards the table and leaned against it. "The only thing I don't know is where the rest of you are hiding. One of those people is Vicki Elizabeth Byrne."

Judd tried to throw himself at Carpathia, struggling against the chains that held him back. Everyone in the room knew what Carpathia was after: the location of their friends and the woman Judd and Mark would protect at every cost.

Nicolae watched in amusement as Judd kept throwing himself at him. Judd nearly broke the restraints at one point, but before he could, he was yanked back to the wall. He didn't bother straining against the irons anymore and leaned his head against the partition to regain his breath.

"And what would you do with Vicki? Because all of us know God is going to kick your ass," Natalie said.

Nicolae turned with an insulted look on his face.

The antichrist reached out his arm, holding his hands as if he were to hold her head. He made the motion of breaking someone's neck, and Natalie was on the ground dead. "I'm sorry," he said, "what were you saying?"


	2. Chapter 2

Mark closed his eyes and turned his head as the antichrist picked his victims for torture. He heard the screams of the girls; he heard the crying of most of the members of the room (himself included); he could hear the slamming of bodies against either the floor or the wall or the table. Mark heard Judd screaming until his voice turned raw and Nicolae screaming over Judd. Mark heard Conrad throwing himself against the chains and eventually breaking them to protect one of the girls from the greediest man on the planet.

Carpathia forced Mark to look at him by grabbing his chin. He leaned in close and Mark could easily smell the liquor on his breath. "Your punishment, your torture," he seethed, "is to watch the others die." Carpathia unchained Mark. "If you try and protect them, they will die in the worst imaginable ways possible."

Mark hated the man with every fiber of his being.

First was Charlie. Mark desperately wanted to help the boy, but he knew he would only make things worse by trying to protect him. Mark swallowed the knot in his throat as he watched Nicolae abuse Charlie.

Nicolae shoved the defenseless boy to the ground, asserting his dominance over Charlie. Carpathia took his belt and beat him. He threw up his hands to defend himself, but Nicolae was too strong for him. Through it all, Carpathia never let go of his knife. The antichrist beat him until his eyes were swollen shut, and even then, he only stopped because the fun in hurting Charlie had died.

Conrad hung by his toes from the ceiling, none of them knowing when he had gotten up there, but knowing it was by a supernatural force. Conrad was screaming profanities at Carpathia, trying as hard as he could to keep himself from crying. Nicolae snapped his fingers and Conrad was shrieking his throat raw as boiling water was poured over him. He clutched his throat as he coughed. Conrad's coughs angered Nicolae, so the devil's apprentice turned on his heel and stared at Conrad.

Conrad grasped at his throat desperately, almost as if trying to take invisible hands away from him. Mark looked back to Nicolae and saw that the man, without doing more than looking at Conrad, was choking him to death.

"Hey, Satan!" Mark's head turned sharply to see Judd, anger in his eyes. Mark felt a bit of comfort when he saw that Judd's anger went so deep that his entire body was trembling with hatred for Nicolae Carpathia.

Carpathia broke eye contact with Conrad, who sucked in air as fast as it would come. Nicolae was in a great mood, meaning he was about to send everyone to their graves. Judd smirked as Nicolae stepped closer to him. He waited until the devil's apprentice was standing right in front of him, and then he said, "You forgot about me." When Judd saw that Nicolae had rolled his eyes and was about to walk away, he continued. "I truly believe this is not a time when you want to save the best for last."

Carpathia touched the tip of his knife to his lip in consideration. "You're right," he said, "it would be a shame if only Mark watched you die." Nicolae unshackled Judd.

Feeling his freedom, Judd delivered a beautiful roundhouse kick to Carpathia's face. The now slightly injured living devil glared daggers at Judd. There was a brief standoff, and then the two men lunged at each other. They both completely disregarded the dead bodies strewn throughout the room.

Carpathia shoved Judd into a wall and pulled his hair. Judd gritted his teeth, pushed back against the wall, and slammed both feet into Carpathia's chest. Carpathia stumbled, off balance, and threw himself at Judd again. For a short time, it seemed that Judd had the upper hand. He even made Carpathia drop his dagger and forget about it.

The moment was short-lived. Carpathia regained the upper hand and forced Judd to the ground with a single punch to the face. Judd, stubborn as he was, stood up. Each time Judd would stand, Carpathia would send him back to the ground.

Finally, Judd stayed down. Carpathia reveled in his victory until Judd threw all of his weight against Carpathia's knees. The antichrist screamed in pain, and it was back to the fight. They stayed on the ground, one rolling over the other in a crocodile's death grip. At the end of the roll, it turned out to be Nicolae on top, and he took every advantage of it.

Mark couldn't stand to watch the bravest of them all at his moment of weakness, and he was about to jump in to protect Judd, but his little sister beat him to it. She had already been defiled by Carpathia, as was evident by the stains on her incorrectly buttoned shirt. Despite her newfound fear of this man, she pushed him off of Judd and stood between her friend and the devil.

Nicolae just laughed, grabbed her wrist and shoved her back against the wall. He held her, pinned there with his body, while he bent at his waist to pick up his blade. Once the blade was in his hand, he stood up straight and pressed himself even closer to Darrion.

"Now," he said, "let's see what you will do."


	3. Chapter 3

Knives didn't scare Mark Eisman. Not under normal circumstances. But when the antichrist was tracing a thin line of blood along his little sister's throat, playing with her life as if it were worth no more than that of a fly's, knives terrified him.

"So what do you say, Mark?" the Romanian sadist asked him. His voice was as smooth as silk, despite his earlier screaming. "Will you do as I ask and tell me where your friends are," he said, touching the tip of the blade to Darrion's cheek and drawing half of a heart, "or will I have to stain your friend?"

Mark decided not to tell Nicolae that Darrion was his sister and bit back a few other obscenities. Instead, Mark said, "Well, let's see. You go left, then right, jump up and down 5 times, a portal will open, and you'll be taken to Mars. My friends will have a lovely picnic waiting for you."

Mark had to admit that Nicolae Carpathia was a clever man. Instead of hurting Mark as a punishment for his words, Nicolae picked up another knife and flicked it at Conrad. Mark gagged when he saw the knife sticking out of Conrad's throat.

Nicolae, seeing that Mark's confidence had shaken, decided to play Mark a bit more. He placed the knife's tip on Darrion's lip and applied pressure. "Is that a no?"

Mark swallowed his fear and looked at the living members in the room. Judd, head heavy with fatigue, looked up and through a cold expression, told Mark he better not let Vicki's location slip out of his mouth. Darrion held her head high, pretending to be confident, but Mark knew better. Darrion's eyes were brimming with tears and her cheeks were stained with their paths. But despite that, she had a sad smile in her eyes because either way, she was going to win this game against the devil. Mark's eyes moved to Charlie, who was lying on the ground, having been beaten by a man Mark had once revered.

Mark set his jaw and said, "You're right. It's a no." Those words were some of the hardest things Mark had ever had to say. Saying it meant the death of one friend and not saying it meant the death of another.

Nicolae shrugged and raised Darrion's arm, drawing the blade across her skin. At first, Darrion tried to be brave. She gritted her teeth and blinked back her tears, but when Carpathia dug the knife deeper into her arm, her facade fell and she cried. Her screams of pain echoed through the room. Carpathia knew he had bested Darrion, but he still pressed the blade into her arm.

Mark looked to Judd, who shook his head in submission. Both of them wanted to kill this man. Both of them wanted to stop the crying and the screaming. But both of them knew that they had been thrust into a lose-lose situation. They couldn't help Darrion or Charlie, because if they did, innocent people would die until Carpathia had what he wanted. Nicolae was too powerful for them. The last members of the room were going to die, each of them a death sadder than the one before.

Charlie groaned in pain, loud enough to annoy Nicolae. Nicolae sighed over Darrion's sobs and turned to the bloodied boy on the ground, as if to say that Charlie's life could end at that moment in time. He lifted his knife again, but instead of hurting Charlie, as Mark had suspected, Nicolae turned to Judd, fiddling with the instrument, as if deciding where his next masterpiece would go.

Mark put two fingers in his mouth and whistled to get Carpathia's attention. "Listen hot-shot, I know you're kind of a big deal, yet listen here: I'm trying my best to be polite, but if you move that knife one centimeter closer to them, I will tear you apart."

Nicolae smiled, knowing he had hit a nerve. He drew his branding mark in the air and turned to Mark. "I'd like to see you try."

The antichrist slashed a mark in Judd's forearm, and Judd screamed. Mark lunged at Nicolae, grabbing the knife and pressing it against Carpathia's throat. "Go to hell," Mark gritted.

Nicolae just laughed. "Where do you think I came from?"


	4. Chapter 4

The final four. Mark had always thought of it as basketball, a tournament to see who was the most dominant in the country.

He would never have imagined it could be a term for the last four alive.

Charlie had gone into shock. Darrion sat in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth, her hands to her mouth, sobbing. Judd cradled his arm, and there it was.

The thousand-yard stare.

Mark shook, the knife making small nicks in Nicolae's skin. The antichrist looked at him and laughed. Mark looked back at him, and he saw the sadistic glee in his eyes.

"Why don't you help your friends?"

Mark dropped his knife at the words. He wasn't going to help them. The words that normally would make him run to the person who needed him most now made him want to run from them all.

That fucking bastard.

Mark's eyes swept the room again. Charlie, curled into the fetal position, eyes open but not seeing anything, his breathing barely noticeable. Darrion started laughing hysterically and Mark turned his head away from his little sister who had gone insane.

His eyes fell on Judd.

Judd's mind was filled with the screams of their dead friends. His failures – particularly his failure to be there for Vicki at all times – flashed vividly across his eyelids. The war had done this to him.

Mark should know.

Judd, still not looking at Mark, said one word. "Charlie."

Mark painfully walked over to Charlie and knelt before the boy. He reached out a shaking hand, half expecting the ever-so-vulnerable Charlie to reach out and take it. Mark pressed his fingers to Charlie's neck, feeling for a throbbing that would tell him he was alive. His chin trembling, Mark gently pushed Charlie to his back and pressed his ear against his chest. Nothing.

Judd's voice, defeated, reached Mark. "He's dead."

Mark moved away from Charlie, numbly nodding his head. "Shock."

"Only one of us is getting out of here." Both Judd and Mark turned their heads to see Darrion, now completely insane. There was a glint in her eyes, something Mark could only describe as demonic. She crawled towards Nicolae, eventually straddling him.

The muscle in Mark's jaw jumped.

She pushed Nicolae over, unbuttoning his pants.

Judd closed his eyes, and a solitary tear fell from his left eye.

Darrion pressed her body against the antichrist's, reaching over his head for his knife. She wrapped her hand around its handle. "Might as well not be me."

Judd's eyes snapped open in time to see Darrion puncture her heart with the blade.

Carpathia chuckled and moved her body off of him.

Judd turned to Mark. "Kill me," he said.

Mark searched Judd's eyes for any trace of insanity. Instead of craziness, Mark saw that Judd was clearer in his mind than either Charlie or Darrion had been before they died.

Mark shook his head. He couldn't kill his best friend. "I can't."

Judd shot a glance at Carpathia. "Listen, Mark, if you don't, he will." His ees searched Mark's. "Please."

Judd was pleading with Mark. Desperation filled Judd's eyes. In the green sea of his eyes, there was peace. Just a small shred of it, but it was there. Judd had resigned himself to death. But so much sorrow filled his eyes. It was as if an anchor had been dropped and it dragged down the forest of Judd's eyes. His eyes were heavy, heavier than most kids his age.

Mark shook his head. "I can't kill you. Listen, Carpathia's a sadist, he'll kill both of us. We'll go together."

Judd shook his head, pain in his eyes. "Are you an idiot, Mark?" His voice was thick with sorrow. "Only one of us is going to live. Carpathia loves to inflict pain, and the way he can provide the most pain is to kill me."

Mark shut his eyes and pressed his lips together, shaking his head emphatically. _No. You are not going to die. I am not going to let that happen._

Mark felt a hand on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Judd crying. Judd licked his lips. "He wants Vicki to feel the most pain possible."

At this, Mark understood. It wasn't Judd telling him that Vicki thought he was worthless; it was Judd telling him to get her to move on, to hate him. _I can't do that_.

The two boys heard a slow clap come from Nicolae Carpathia. "Well done, Judd Thompson. Very well done." He cracked his knuckles. "You are going to die."

Judd looked down at the ground and nodded very faintly. His voice was almost inaudible. "I know."

Mark couldn't keep the tears away. Judd was a hero – a hero dying for the villain. He turned to Carpathia. "Just one last goodbye. That's all I ask. Just one goodbye for my best friend."

Carpathia opened his mouth to deny Mark, but he looked hard at the two boys. He saw the destruction in their lives – most of which _he_ had caused. They were brothers, in Christ, yes, but also brothers by love. He couldn't deny them this one request.

"All right," he said, his voice gentle. "One last goodbye."

Mark immediately turned to Judd and pulled him into a hug, sobbing into his shirt. Years, _years_ of pain and grief and frustration showed through the tears both men cried.

Judd pulled away. "See you in a little while, brother."

He turned and walked to Nicolae Carpathia and nodded once. Carpathia nodded in return, and for the first time, it seemed as if he didn't want to kill someone.

Nicolae stretched out his right hand towards Judd and pulled at the air. Judd's body jerked as Carpathia struggled to pull the life out of Judd.

 _He had a lot to lose_ , thought Mark. _And he loved life every single day. It didn't matter how much life sucked. He loved it_.

And that was when Mark realized that this was the cruelest death that Nicolae had ever been a part of, and it was because Judd had lived life as a person everyone loved and everyone could go to.

Nicolae was now sweating as Judd's knees went out from under him.

 _He's still fighting. Don't give up now, buddy._

A voice – Judd's voice – echoed in Mark's head. _I have to go now. I'll see you later._

And with that, Nicolae finally pulled the last bit of life out of Judd Michael Thompson, Jr. Judd's eyes were still open and Mark looked to Nicolae with pleading eyes.

Just one nod. That's how Mark knew.

Nicolae respected Judd.

The antichrist disappeared from the room, and Mark made his way over to Judd's lifeless body. He looked at the hero of them all and gently closed Judd's eyes.

"It wasn't a shame to be the only person to watch you pass from this world onto heaven," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "It was an honor."


	5. Epilogue

_Demons run when a good man goes to war._

 _Night will fall and drown the sun_

 _when a good man goes to war._

 _Friendship dies and true love lies_

 _night will fall and the dark will rise_

 _when a good man goes to war._

 _Demons run, but count the cost._

 _The battle's won, but the child is lost_

 _when a good man goes to war._


End file.
